Charles Otis Hendricks

Charles Otis Hendricks, 93, of Bloomington, passed away peacefully, surrounded by love, Tuesday morning, Aug. 28, 2012, at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis from respiratory and stroke complications that followed heart valve replacement surgery. He had lived independently in his own home until experiencing chest pains in early July.

Charles was born Nov. 5, 1918, in his family home in Hendricksville, Ind., to Frederick H. and Myrtle Sparks Hendricks. On Feb. 6, 1939, he married H. Ilene Hamilton, who died in 2007 after their 68 years of marriage. During her hospitalization and nursing home stay, Charles was a devoted daily visitor, who shared her final days, often joining her for meals in her room, attending to her needs and talking with her about their lives together since they were in their late teens.

As a 1918 baby, Charles survived the flu pandemic of that year and lived the hard life of the World War I and Depression eras on the family’s rural land on a Greene County hillside along Indiana 43, picking strawberries for a half cent a quart as a boy. He was the grandson of a blacksmith, William Hendricks, who made metal hand plows, first designed to follow horses. Those plows are now collector’s items.

As a pre-teen, Charles began working in his father’s garage at Fifth and Adams streets in Bloomington, repairing cars and trucks and beginning to find solutions to mechanical problems that puzzled others. While in the hospital last month, he shared with his sons that as a mechanic, he was the expert and, while he listened to the customer’s description of a problem, he reserved his own judgment as to how to pursue the problem. No brag, just fact.

That early experience as a grease monkey — his self-description — led him to a career as a mechanic, nearly 40 years of which he spent working for Rogers Group, both in the shop on Adams Street and on road jobs. His specialty was diesel engines on gigantic earthmovers and other construction equipment.

The work was physically hard and the hours long, but Charles, looking back, cherished his years at Rogers — and knowing its namesake, Ralph Rogers, with whom he worked personally on many occasions and who he admired for his drive, accomplishments and personal touches. One of Charles’ proudest nights was when he attended the Rogers Group’s 100th anniversary dinner and reconnected with dozens of people with whom he once worked. He was a proud retired Rogers employee and member of International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 841. Before Rogers, he had worked at Full-O-Pep.

After retirement, he delighted in news and pictures of his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, many of whom had settled 3,000 miles from Bloomington in California. He loved to know what was happening with all family and friends — and it seemed he always knew someone who was related to someone or who had lived down the road from someone or who had once worked somewhere. Charles must have known, or known of, half of the people of Monroe and Greene counties.

In later years, Charles especially enjoyed seeing his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, both in person and in photos. Distance prevented him from seeing his California family in person as much as he would have liked, but he always kept them in mind. He was able to be with his three Indiana great-grandchildren on birthdays, Thanksgivings, Christmases, Father’s Days and other family events. Two days before he died and while he was becoming unresponsive, he smiled when visited in the hospital by two great-grandchildren and their parents.

Charles was not a joke teller, but he always had a witty response to a question, which he would share with family, friends, waitresses, nurses, doctors and workers in his home.

In his final days, stroke robbed him of two of his favorite things: the abilities to speak and to eat. The man could talk, filling any pause in a conversation with a memory, a story or an observation. And he could eat. He loved ham steak, roast pork, fried and grilled chicken, onions, cauliflower, baked and fried potatoes, green beans, oatmeal cookies, cherry pie and strawberry milk shakes. When Charles said a meal was “OK,” one knew it was really not. And he loved his Cokes. He was well known for offering dry-roasted peanuts, cashews and cold Cokes to visitors — such as his grandchildren, who lovingly remember him as caring, funny, kind and always interested in their lives.

Charles was a 1936 graduate of Solsberry High School and had been one of three final survivors from that class.

Preceding Charles in death were his parents; his wife, H. Ilene Hamilton Hendricks; his sister, Naomi Abram of Greene County; his brother, Rex Hendricks of Bloomington; a brother lost in infancy, Wendell H. Hendricks; his in-laws, Jasper and Naomi Hamilton of Bloomington; brothers-in-law, Winfred Abram of Greene County and Waldo Hamilton of Bloomington; and countless other relatives and friends.

Charles is survived by two sons, Ron Hendricks of Bloomfield and Merv Hendricks and wife, Cathy Goodall Hendricks, of Terre Haute; a sister, Lena Hendricks of Bloomington; seven grandchildren, Mike Hendricks and wife, Patty, Ken Hendricks and wife, Margo, Jim Hendricks and Tim Hendricks all of California, Doug Hendricks and wife, Teresa, of Arizona, Andy Hendricks and wife, Vickie, of Mooresville, Ind., and Emily Hendricks Turnier and husband, Justin, of Indianapolis; 10 great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; a former daughter-in-law, Cathy J. Hendricks of Bloomington; a sister-in-law, Martha Sue Hendricks of Bloomington; a brother-in-law, Elmer Hamilton of West Lafayette; several nieces, nephews and cousins; and special friends, including high school classmate Lowell “Pete” Osborne and his wife, Anise, of Ellettsville, and Rose Kerr, his in-home caregiver, neighbor and good friend.

Charles was a member of Liberty Church of Christ in Hendricksville and had earlier been a member of Indiana Avenue and Highland Village Churches of Christ. He was a founding member and longtime treasurer at Highland Village and helped physically finish the building of that church.

Visitation is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Deremiah Frye Mortuary in Bloomington. Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Liberty Church of Christ, Hendricksville, with Brother Keevin Gray officiating. Burial will be in Valhalla Cemetery, next to his wife, Ilene, and a few yards from his brother, Rex.

The family requests in lieu of flowers, those who wish may donate to the American Heart Association or American Lung Association.

The family wishes to thank the caring staff at Garden Villa Rehabilitation Center in Bloomington; the nurses and doctors at IU Health Bloomington Hospital; Dr. Eric Bannec and his staff; the nurses and doctors at Methodist Hospital; and the family and friends who offered love, faith and support during Charles’ final days, especially his sister, Lena Hendricks, his niece, Erma Abram, and his sister-in-law, Martha Sue Hendricks, the three of whom visited him as frequently as weekly and brought him many smiles and satisfactions.

Online condolences may be made to www.deremiahfryemortuary.com